Street Gang Blamed For Wesleyan Homecoming Brawl

MIDDLETOWN — City police Monday blamed members of the 20 Love street gang for starting a Sunday morning brawl during a homecoming party at Wesleyan University that left three police officers injured.

A large number of gang members, dressed in 20 Love's green and black colors, were at the party and involved in the fighting outside when police tried to shut it down, said Det. Robert Trembley, the police department's gang intelligence officer.

"Gang members appeared to be the instigators of the situation," Trembley wrote in a report made public Monday.

Three Middletown residents, none of whom were Wesleyan students, were arrested in the fracas and charged with assaulting police, interfering with police and breach of peace. The suspects will be arraigned in Middletown Superior Court Nov. 15.

City police and Wesleyan public safety officers described Sunday's melee as an "all-out brawl" in which several officers were held on the ground, punched, kicked and beaten. The angry revelers threw unopened bottles of beer and soda at police, and a university police cruiser was damaged and its antenna ripped off.

About 30 officers from Wesleyan, Middletown, Cromwell and state police went to the melee. Middletown police spokesman Capt. David Knapp said officers used three cans of a Mace-like spray to subdue people, and a police dog helped disperse the crowd of about 300.

Police said 20 Love is one of the larger gangs in the city and recently one of the most active. Four gang members were charged Halloween night in connection with an attack on a Grand Street man who had become angry when they pounded on his door.

The Wesleyan campus had been largely immune from the recent rise in Middletown's gang-related activity.

Wesleyan spokesman Bobby Wayne Clark said Sunday's incident was the university's first run-in with gang-related violence on campus. University officials are planning to meet later this week to reassess the college's policy of allowing parties that non-students can attend. The meeting was planned before Sunday's incident.

In the meantime, Wesleyan's Public Safety Director Harry C.

Kinne III said he plans to share information about local gangs and work closely with city police.

"We are in the center of the city and we're not immune from crime," Kinne said. "As I always say, if Middletown has a problem, Wesleyan has a problem."

Saturday night's party was supposed to have been a major campus event helping to raise money for a new scholarship fund being created by the school's chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, a black fraternity. The party originally was planned for the university's McConaughy dining hall and to be open to the public. But when organizers were unable to get an off-duty police officer for security, the party had to be moved and limited to just students and invited guests.

University policy requires parties open to the public to be staffed by an off-duty officer. Although the fraternity asked Middletown police for an off-duty officer three weeks ago, they weren't told there wasn't an officer available until just 48 hours before the event